♪♪
♪ We are the Masters ♪
♪ Masters of Disaster ♪
♪ We know that's what it took me to know ♪
♪ We are the Masters ♪
♪ And we're here to draw some knowledge on you ♪
♪♪
Get on in and we're going to close the door
and close the window and...
Go ahead.
Good.
What does an earthquake feel like?
Can you imagine?
The floor is moving.
It's hard to stand up.
The Earth is probably like you're bouncing up and down
on your couch.
Poor trampoline!
Good, good.
All of those feelings can happen if an earthquake occurs.
Let's let Nick out of that box.
Good job.
Good job.
Close it up.
Good.
Now, an earthquake usually begins with a low rumbling sound,
and then the Earth starts to move.
Sometimes there's a lot of shaking very quickly.
What do you think happens to our Earth to cause that kind of shaking?
Maybe something inside is moving.
Aww.
What do you think is happening inside the Earth to cause an earthquake?
I don't know.
I don't know.
We don't know.
Okay.
Well, I will show you.
Now, the inside of our Earth is like the inside of an apple.
They both have three layers.
The outside layer of an apple, the part that we sometimes peel,
what's that called?
The skin.
Yes, the skin.
And the outside layer of the Earth is called the crust.
Now, the second layer of the apple is called the flesh.
That's the part that we eat.
Yes.
And the second layer of the Earth is called the mantle.
And the very third, inmost layer of the apple is called the core.
Guess what?
The innermost layer of the Earth is also called the core.
Now, which layer of the Earth do we live on?
The crust.
Yes.
Yes.
But the crust of the Earth is different from the skin of the apple because it's made up of big pieces of crust.
And the mantle of the Earth is different from the flesh of the apple because it moves.
It changes like ripples on a lake, it moves, and it moves the crust and causes those pieces of crust to rub together.
Now, sometimes the rub can cause shaking that you can feel on the surface of the Earth.
What are some other good words for that rubbing together?
Great!
Grinding.
Yeah.
Bump.
Bump.
Bump.
Good.
All good words.
Now, here is a poem to help us remember what happens during an earthquake.
When the mantle moves around and grinds and bumps abound, there may be shaking on the ground and perhaps a falling sound.
Because the mantle not asleep, it's moving inside, down so deep.
And if the ground begins to creep, things might tumble and a heap.
Good.
Good job.
What do you think happens to the surface of the Earth when those crustal plates collide?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Let's go find out.
Let's look at this town that we built in this sandbox.
Oh, you!
Sandbox!
What are we going to do here?
Well, this little town is built on two pieces of crust.
Why do people live with our earthquakes?
That is a good question.
Well, first of all, most earthquakes are so small that no one even feels them.
And second of all, no one knows when the crustal plates are going to move and cause an earthquake.
And you know, it's important to remember that the movements of the Earth brings good things as well.
It can cause mountains and cliffs and sometimes valleys.
The Earth's movements make our landscape beautiful and people want to live in beautiful places.
For the people who live there, do certain things to lessen the damages that earthquakes can do.
But we'll talk about that later.
So what we have here is this town which is built on top of two crusty pieces that are going to move
because the mantle underneath them is moving.
Okay?
So everybody take a corner here.
And what we're going to do is we're going to pull this cloth very slowly because this is going to be a small earthquake.
Okay, ready?
Okay, let's go.
Okay, we're pulling the cloth.
Okay, good. Good.
Stop. Good.
Now what happened to the town when those crustal plates changed the Earth's surface?
Those buildings fell on the road rocker part.
Good.
Now some earthquakes are small and don't cause very much damage.
Some earthquakes are medium and some earthquakes are really big.
What do we do to make a really big earthquake?
Pull the cloth more or faster?
Yes, and that's what we're going to do.
To see what happens when the mantle moves more under the Earth or very close to the crust's surface.
Okay, stop. Good.
That was a big quake.
That was a very big earthquake.
Look at that.
Now why do you think people get hurt during an earthquake?
The ground shakes and that causes people to fall down.
Stepped from buildings fall on people.
People usually don't get hurt just from the ground shaking.
They get hurt because things fall on them.
Now, do you know what we can do to help our family prepare for an earthquake before it happens?
We can look for hazards.
Hazards are things that can hurt you if we don't fix them ahead of time.
Now we can't fix all the hazards, but we can fix a lot of them.
So let's look through this home and see if we can find some things that can hurt us during an earthquake.
We're looking through our home for an earthquake hazard.
That lamp could tumble over.
The stuff on the shelf could topple.
The mirror on the wall could fall.
The glass in the window could shatter and the hanging plant could fall.
If the cover's not fastened, things could fall out.
The bookshop could fall on you if it's not fastened to the wall.
All of these are the things that we should look out for in our homes if there's an earthquake.
Okay, that seems pretty easy, huh?
Good, so we found some of the hazards in this home.
And what I want you to do is when you go home,
look and see if you can find some things in your home that might hurt you if there were an earthquake.
Then ask a grown-up what you can do to move or fix or brace those things
so that they don't fall or break or fly during an earthquake.
Do you know what to do if an earthquake happened right now?
Drop, color, and hold on.
Good, good.
Okay, come on over here.
Now, who wants a bite of that apple?
We are the Masters.
Masters of Disaster.
We know this what to do.
We don't need to know.
We are the Masters.
And we're here to draw some knowledge on you.
[silence]